It’s Thanksgiving Day. The turkey and trimmings have all been eaten and a tryptophan stupor has begun to set in. It’s still hours before the game, and the kids are clamoring to do something. And then you think of it—Where can we take everyone for a walk?
Being inclusive, consideration must be made for the relatives’ additional girth, the new baby and tired mom, the college son’s fashionista girlfriend, the 5-year-old and early-teens cousins who are both accident-prone and equally awkward, the chatty brother-in-law who must walk beside an intrepid listener, the grandparents and elderly aunt, and Fluffy, the labradoodle.
Easy, no hills, few rocks and roots, side-by-side walking and talking, safe, and outdoors: These are the criteria.
Harvard Park Trail
The gold standard for woodland walking that accommodates this cast of characters is the trail behind McCurdy Track at Harvard Park. Last year, senior high school student Maddie Steele, with mentor Jim Lee, designed the reconstruction of these trails. With the approval of the Conservation Commission and the Parks and Recreation Commission, Pinard’s Landscaping hauled out roots and rocks and graded the pathways with a gravel base. Wide pathways, easy walking, dry, and clearly blazed, this trail shines.
Fruitlands
Not far behind as an option, Fruitlands Museum offers a network of trails backed up to the Oxbow National Wildlife Refuge. Open for the winter on weekends from noon to 5 p.m., for $5 per person, walkers can head downhill to the Fruitlands farmhouse and enjoy leaf-swept trails and boardwalks. As a bonus, the trail has markers for points of interest such as the Willard Farm site and the Native American hunting-gathering area. New this year, Fruitlands’ trails will be open this Friday, Nov. 25, from noon until 4:30 p.m., in celebration of the national “Green Friday” alternative to the otherwise commercial day after Thanksgiving. Dogs must be leashed.
Maxant Field
Next on the list are the Maxant Field trails and the treasure hunt prepared by the Harvard Conservation Trust. Google “treasure hunts Harvard MA” and you’ll land on the webpage www.harvardconservationtrust.org/treasure_hunts. A rhyming trail guide gives directions as well as points of Harvard history. Walkers can amble safely side-by-side, talk, and enjoy the views. Park to the left of the Still River fire station and head out into the fields. If you get turned around, find Willard Lane and follow this country road back.
Low-stress alternatives
For those whose guests include youngsters in strollers or unprepared relatives in high heels, here are some alternatives for walking outdoors. Drive to Cisco Systems in Boxborough by way of Route 111. Take a left onto Swanson Road, go past Swymfit, and enter Cisco on the left. Throughout the Cisco campus are paved pathways that weave through woods, go by ponds and solar panels, and loop around office buildings. Traveling farther down the Cisco road, there are open areas that are part of the town of Boxborough’s recreation fields.
And for those for whom walking in circles is about as much as they can handle after a Thanksgiving meal, McCurdy Track can be an especially low-stress alternative.
More active alternatives
Wider trails with more scrambling and hills include Bowers Springs Conservation Area on the Harvard-Bolton line; the Delaney Wildlife Management Area straddling Harvard, Bolton, and Stow; Littleton’s Oak Hill with trails to Lookout Rock and Tophet Chasm; and Boxborough’s Beaver Brook Meadow conservation land.
Beyond these, the Harvard Conservation Trust website or the Harvard Trails book by the Conservation Trust has a treasure trove of trails ready to explore, all of which are as varied and distinct as the people walking them.
